Sylvie, my citizen action project partner, and I went to the High School to learn more about trans youth in New York City. We interviewed many of the GSA members to get more personal stories about trans people, and to get a better understanding about their perspectives on the recent gender affirming care bans. Since…
Alex, my citizen action project partner, and I met with the LREI high school GSA. On our walk over, we were practicing what we were going to say, but when we got there the unexpected happened. Alex and I were already in the library, where we told them we were going to meet, when a few members of the GSA started to arrive. We got up and walked over to them and said hi and they had completely forgotten about the interview. But that wasn’t even the worst part; when we sat down with them, we asked if other members were going to join, and they didn’t realize that we wanted the whole GSA. After everything got settled, they went and found three more members who we could talk to. And then we started the interview.
We had a very small amount of questions because our goal was to get more stories than information. Our first question was about each trans person’s experience with being trans in the high school, and in high school in general. Two people answered, and they both talked about how the community at the high school is really supportive and that when both of them came out, they only had to email one teacher, and the message got out about them switching pronouns.
Then we narrowed it down to specifically talking about gender affirming care, and there was only one person who has actually gone through any care. We asked about their experience with it, and they said that it wasn’t really a big deal when it happened, because they had been waiting for so long, that when their first appointment came along, it was only a few minutes long. Then we asked them if there was a reason that the rest of them didn’t get any care, and most of them said that them and their parents decided that it would be best to wait longer. Our last question was pretty brief, asking them about their opinions on the gender affirming care bans in NY hospitals and if it changed their opinions of NY itself. Pretty much everyone just said that they were angry and scared and even a bit disappointed in NY.
They were all very nice, and overall, it was a great meeting.
Bethany (Beth) Sousa is the Senior Policy Counselor for Planned Parenthood, an organization that focuses on reproductive health and advocacy for gender affirming care and bodily autonomy. This care is of high quality and focuses on people with lower incomes, making this a very accessible way of receiving healthcare. Beth was drawn to this line…
Sylvie, my Citizen Action Project partner, and I arrived at St. Vartan Park in Manhattan at roughly 6:30 p.m. for a protest fighting for the rights of trans kids. There was already a crowd forming, with people holding signs and flags. Many of the signs had notable phrases: “New York is Helping Fascists Follow Their…
Alex, my citizen action project partner, and I went to the protest in front of the NYU buildings to fight for them to bring gender affirming care back.
I got there early, around 6, when the event was supposed to start around 6:30, and me and my dad looked around and got a feel for our surroundings. It was at Saint Vartan Park, right next to one of the main NYU buildings, on 1st avenue and 35th street. When we met up with Alex, and their dad, we entered the park, which was already starting to fill up. It was already dark out and the park lights were the only source of light. The stage was very small, and from where we were, we couldn’t see it. However, the speakers were incredible, and we could hear every single word spoken to the audience. It was incredible. There were many speakers who came up and told their stories. Many of them were trans and most of the trans people had gotten, or were still getting gender affirming care at NYU when that happened. If the speaker wasn’t trans, they were a parent of a trans person, and a huge ally. It was incredible to hear about all of these heartbroken people, facing first hand, how horrible the next four years of everyone’s lives will be. Many people were carrying signs or flags and every person there was ready to fight. There were many cheers, and one of the most common ones was, the speaker says,”When trans rights are under attack, what do we do?!” The audience yells back, “Stand up; fight back!” There are many different versions of the question, but the answer is always the same. This symbolizes how there will be many challenges thrown at our community, but we always have to do the same thing, “Stand up; fight back.”
Alex, my citizen action project partner, and I interviewed Bethany Sousa, a reproductive and gender affirming health care advocate, who works with planned parenthood. When the meeting first started, we gave Bethany a heads up that some of the questions may be hard to answer, either from a legal standpoint, or because they may be unknown at the time based on the state of the government and country. We also told her that we knew that planned parenthood is being federally funded, so they could get shut down at any moment, and she clarified for us that they don’t actually get funded from the government, but that the insurance policies would change, and people who use Medicaid, which is a form of coverage for low income people, wouldn’t be able to go there anymore.
When we started by asking our first question, it was about the overall goal of planned parenthood, and Bethany told us a bit about the mission for the national office, where she works. She told us that their whole thing is about advocacy and standing up for what’s right. Then she told us about the mission for the whole planned parenthood, and it was pretty straightforward; providing quality healthcare for all patents. We then asked her why she chose to work at planned parenthood, and she told us that she had worked on the federal level at a different organization before she went over, and that she wanted to make an impact and change. She told us that she had always been very passionate about equality, and especially with rights over your own body. Planned parenthood hadn’t even started working on LGBTQ+ treatments until quite recently and they’ve expanded a lot already. We then asked her many more questions about how the government is affecting their work and what her hopes and fears are for the future. She said she had a lot of fears with what Trump is trying to do, and that she thinks the government will try and target gender affirming care first, even before abortion rights, given the current circumstances and what he has already done.
Something that really stood out to me was what Bethany said, when we asked her about her hope for the future. She says, “I you know, I do have some hope that even before Trump is out of office, for whatever reason, whether it’s four years or less, I do have some hope that there will be some culture change. I think I think that we need culture shift on, you know, transgender rights and I’m a little bit hopeful that we will see some in the next few years because there are a lot of advocates that care about working on this issue and that that the problem is so clear now… So I think that gives me a little hope too.” I think that should give everyone a little hope.
Sylvie, my Citizen Action Project partner, and I watched a documentary titled “The Fight for Gender-Affirming Care.” This documentary was hosted by Arielle Duhaime-Ross, a trans journalist who fights for the rights of trans people. The documentary focused on specific stories, laws, and statistics in the United States about gender affirming care. They opened with…
Alex, my citizen action project partner, and I watched a documentary called The Fight For Gender-Affirming Health Care which was a recorded meeting of five people, most of which are trans, talking about gender affirming care. Arielle Duhaime-Ross is the moderator of the interview.
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Arielle starts the interview by asking what gender affirming care is, and what types of things fall under its category? Dr. Goepferd, a pediatrician, answered by saying when someone goes to a gender health program, they’re looking for a supportive place where youth and their parents can talk to medical and mental health professionals who specialize in that care. I learned that something most people get confused about is that it often requires no medical treatment at all. Gender-affirming care, at its core, is about supporting where the young person and their parents are at, and there are other non-medical treatments, like shapewear, voice therapy, or helping to affirm someone’s physical appearance with haircuts, clothes, and names and pronouns.
The documentary also included two video clips of two different kids who had gotten gender affirming care. The second clip is about a teenage boy who was struggling to find access to treatment, because he lived in Texas where there wasn’t very good trans medical care, So he, and his mother, drove away each time, just to get better access. They could barely afford to though, so it was a huge struggle, but the mom knew she had to because Drew, the kid, was very suicidal before he got treatment. Drew’s mom, Brandi, said, “I’d say, like, a month to two months in, I started seeing that kid come back, come out of his shell, talk to us more, laugh… It was like, that’s it. This has been the answer all along. Why would anybody want to take that away from him? Why? And take that right away as a parent?” Those two clips show just how important gender affirming care really is.
Most gender affirming care is also used on cis people. Dr. Goepferd explains how some non cis people go through puberty too early, which can be harmful to their bodies, so doctors use the exact same medications to pause their puberty until they’re of an age to continue. And so doctors and medical professionals have been using puberty-suppressing medications in kids who are not trans for thirty to forty years. In fact, it is the most common reason to use puberty suppressing medications. Another way that gender affirming care is used in non-trans people is estrogen and testosterone. They are both used in cisgender people as well, especially when that person has lower to no levels of that hormone being produced in their body. These medications are used on cisgender people, so it is a hundred percent discrimination to not let trans people use it, simply because of their gender identity.
Finally, Arielle asks Arli to wrap up with ways to help make a difference. She lists a few main things that you have to do to help. That list is, use your voice; make sure to speak up about the things that you believe in, pay attention to what’s happening in your state and country, sign action alerts when they come along, contact your representatives, follow your local trans-led organizations, and on a more personal level, speak up with your friends and family.
My citizen action project partner, Sylvie, and I attended the People’s March (formerly the Women’s March). We marched to show our support for all oppressed communities all over the United States who will be affected negatively by Donald Trump’s presidency and/or republican leaders in the US. We arrived in Foley Square at around 9:40 a.m.,…
Sylvie, my citizen action project partner, and I have been thinking about creating a safe space for trans and non-binary individuals since 7th grade. Although we are running a Gender and Sexuality Affinity group, we found that many trans people didn’t feel comfortable sharing their experiences to cisgender people. That idea made our current trans…
Alex, my citizen action project partner, and I went to the People’s March on January 18th. This march was a march for the rights of all people. It was created by the same people who made the Women’s March, on January 21st, 2017, and it had the same purpose; protest for the rights that will be taken over by Donald Trump.
When we first got there, I could see the “stage” where the speeches would take place, and I could see a crowd slowly start to form. We were within the first 100 or so people to arrive at first, but as soon as the speeches started, many people came and watched. All of the speeches came from a “representative” of most minorities, and they would talk about their experience being who they are. Many of them also talked about their worries and fears about what Trump will do, but if they spoke their fears, they also spoke their hopes and dreams. Some speeches were more “kid friendly” then others, but each one made it’s own impact on the crowd. As a viewer, I felt especially empowered from hearing how all of the people who went up on the stage were just regular people who had opinions that they wanted to share. I had a dream, that I would be able to be up on that stage, talking about my own life, and how fucked up this world is, but what each individual person can do to make it just a little bit better; how each person who showed up for that march put just a little bit of hope into the air.
When we started walking, everyone was super cold and motivated, so it moved at a quick, steady pace. We walked and walked, and it felt like it was going on for so long, but it felt incredible and powerful. People started chants and we just kept on walking. A big part of the march for me was when we got to the intersection of 6th avenue and West Broadway, and we stopped. Me and my dad were sure that we’d go right, down West Broadway, because of how busy 6th avenue is, but nope, instead, we kept on marching, straight down 6th avenue. The cars honked their horns and the people yelled, but we kept walking. It felt so good to be acknowledged, even if it was negative, and I loved how we got to create traffic. I wasn’t worried that the cars would keep driving, because we were all united, but if we got split up, or there weren’t as many people, it would’ve been much less safe. This speaks to the fact that we’re always safer if we stick together. That was one of the main points of the march; even though all of the minorities don’t have much in common, we are all being targeted by one common enemy; Donald Trump. So we all have to stand united, together, to fight back.
Alex, my citizen action project partner, and I wanted to have a safe space for trans individuals to go and talk. We knew that it would be impossible to create an actual affinity group, so we thought the next best thing would be a lunch period once a week. To be able to start a club, you need the permission and help of a teacher, so we went to Suzanne and Mo, the GSA teachers, and told them about our idea. They both seemed very excited about it, and we discussed the idea here and there, until we came up with a plan. Since there are no openly trans faculty that work at the school, we had to get a teacher that we felt comfortable enough with being in the room. We chose both Suzanne and Mo to facilitate the meetings. On Monday the 6th, they made an announcement during middle school meeting, telling everyone that the meeting would take place at 11:30 every Monday and that anyone who identifies as trans can come.
Later that day, we had the first meeting, and when people started to show up, we talked a bit about our relationship with being trans. The group’s purpose is to, not only have a safe space, but to just be able to hang out with other people who have similar experiences to you. The next week, on the 13th, we had another meeting, and it was more about just hanging out and feeling comfortable.
I hope that other schools can be able to create trans affinity groups to help support the student at the school, who don’t feel comfortable talking with cis people about their trans experience.
My CAP partner, Sylvie, and I walked into the learning lab nervously. As we started the meeting, we saw Paul’s face on our screen. When we realized that the Zoom meeting’s audio and video were barely working, we had to log onto a different computer and restart the interview. Once we finally got started, the…
Alex, my citizen action project partner, and I interviewed Paul Silverman, a queer therapist. I got in contact with him from my dad. He facilitates the parent group of a teenage trans group therapy that I got to once a month. The program that he works for is called Gender Family Project, GFP for short, and that is part of the Ackerman Institute. As well as that group, he also has a private practice where he sees clients individually.
Alex and I decided that it would be better for us to set up for the interview ahead of time, so we didn’t have to rush and mess up. We went up into the learning lab at 9:40 to be prepared for the 10:00 meeting. As we logged on to the zoom meeting, I noticed that it was a bit glitchy, but I didn’t think too much of it, and when Paul finally showed up, he was too glitchy. We had to move into the other room of the learning lab to get help from Susannah and Mala. Susannah quickly gave us her computer to log in with so that it would work better, and right away, it stops glitching. When we got settled in, we restarted the meeting and calmed down.
The first few questions we asked Paul about were more focused on how he got into being a therapist. He told us that he always knew he wanted to help people in that way and that he was super passionate about it. He said that he specifically works with trans people because, as a gay person, he felt like his journey was very much so connected to other queer people, including trans people. We talked about the ways he can help his clients other than mental health support and he talked about how he can send letters to doctors, give recommendations to his clients for other types of therapy, and he can talk to parents. He told us about his opinion on how gender affirming care will be affected by the past election, and ways that he wants to help his clients with those new challenges. We also asked him if he had any people he knew that lived outside of NY and how gender affirming care would be different there then here; he told us that most of the people he knew in other states, moved or are planning on moving to NY for better support.
By the end of the meeting, we had learned many things, including how to not panic when put in a stressful situation, and we felt very accomplished.
Finally, Alex and I thanked Paul and said goodbye.
Alex, my Citizen Action Project partner, and I interviewed Ava Dawson, the current high school nurse of LREI. At first I was very anxious about messing up and asking the wrong questions, but after we started, Ava showed that she was very easygoing and caring. As I started to stop worrying, we continued on in the interview.
We first asked her about her own experience with gender affirming care, and she told us that she has a transgender sister who had gotten gender affirming care. Ava said that she had helped support her sister with her transition. She also told us that, before she came to LREI, she had worked at a very run down public school. The issues at the school were much worse compared to LREI and she said that there were many bullying instances. As the nurse, many people came to her for helpo and she tried to help them to her fullest extent. The main gender issues there were that all of the bathrooms were gendered and most of the trans kids that went to her said that they felt physically unsafe using them. She helped them by giving them a key to the teacher restroom, but even that didn’t fully solve the problems because some teachers would question the kids and ask them why they were using their restroom.
When Ava came to LREI, she said that the whole school felt much more inclusive and supportive. We asked her if she, specifically, had helped anyone get care, and she said that, because it’s fully up to the parent(s), the only thing she could do was talk to them. If the parent(s) were in full support, she would talk with the student and their parent(s) about options and solutions. if the parent(s) were not in support, she and Ty, the school councilor, would have a very thorough and informational conversation with just the parent(s) and tell them why it’s important to help their child and support them through their journey.
Finally, Ava referred Alex and I to a few more resources and said goodbye.
An interview with Ava Dawson, one of LREI’s school nurses. Sylvie, my Citizen Action Project partner, and I walked into the learning lab and prepared ourselves for an interview with Ava Dawson, a school nurse working at LREI. As we got onto the Zoom meeting, I started to relax. Ava was kind and welcoming, which…
